8 INTRODUCTION. 



But may I not such here possess — 

 May I not here find happiness ? 



Come then, fair Lady ! with me stray; 

 To Shooter's-hill now haste away ; 

 Or, midst the shady bowers of Lee,* 

 I'll proudly wait your company. 

 Or, if you so prefer, the dark 

 The chesnut groves of Greenwich Park ; 

 Forgetting not — who can forget? 

 The balmy breezes of Black-heath, 



* tf The spirit of improvement through the land 

 Strides like a giant." 



The improvements which have lately been made on Black- 

 heath, at Lee, and the unostentatious village of Lewisham, 

 deserve a short note. Those who remember the gloomy gran- 

 deur of Lee, may now contemplate it under another aspect, 

 namely, that of rural elegance. There is an oak by the footway, 

 leading from Lee church to Lee-green, that deserves, together 

 with the surrounding scenery, to be immortalized by the pen, or 

 the pencil, or both. Blackheath has lately received an 

 important addition to the east, in a series of elegant villas, 

 evincing, at once, the taste and opulence of the owners. The 

 modern and long-neglected ruin of Sir Gregory Page Turner's 

 seat, has, at length, totally disappeared ; and, in its stead, have 

 arisen numerous mansions which wealth and competence have 

 chosen for their abode. Of Lewisham, I dare not trust my- 

 self to say much ; it is a quiet, unobtrusive village, in which I 

 have passed many happy days, and in which a considerable por- 

 tion of this work was written. The improvements, either com- 

 pleted or going on here, will render its neighbourhood still more 

 desirable as a residence. The walks and scenery surrounding 

 this place are sufficiently described in the text. 



